James Alexander MacLaren (4 January 1870 – 8 July 1952) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...

between 1891 and 1894. Born in Whalley Range, Manchester, and the eldest of seven brothers, MacLaren was a keen cricketer from his youngest days. He was particularly close to his younger brother

Archie Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands * Archie Blake (mathematici ...

, who later captained

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Down, p. 9. He attended

Elstree School Elstree School is an English preparatory school for children aged 3–13 at Woolhampton House in Woolhampton, near Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. The school has announced plans to become fully co-educational from September 2020. H ...

and

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, where he coached as a cricketer and was later joined by Archie. He also received coaching at

Old Trafford Cricket Ground Old Trafford is a cricket ground in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1857 as the home of Manchester Cricket Club and has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. From 2013 onwards it has been known as ...

, where his father was treasurer of

.Down, pp. 9–12. He played in the Harrow first team between 1886 and 1888, and was appointed captain in his final year. Upon leaving Harrow, he played on four occasions for Lancashire between 1891 and 1894 but had little success. On one occasion in 1894, he opened the batting with his brother Archie, who was captain of Lancashire by that stage.Down, p. 19. In 1900, he qualified as a doctor of medicine. He died at the age of 82 following a fall.

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Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaren, James 1870 births 1952 deaths People from Whalley Range English cricketers Lancashire cricketers People educated at Elstree School People educated at Harrow School